FOCUS
Community response
After almost four years since major flooding on the Somerset Levels, Paul Slaven explores lessons learned by Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service for future floods
I
T IS nearly four years since the major fl ooding incident on the Somerset Levels during the winter of 2013/14. At the time, Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service (DSFRS) worked with partner agencies for two months to help the communities cut off by the water. Since then, the service, alongside all the organisations involved, has learned lessons from the event and is playing its part to make sure everyone is well prepared for any future incidents.
Flooding and response
During the winter of 2013/14, the United Kingdom suffered signifi cant rainfall and subsequent widespread fl ooding. During this unprecedented weather, rainfall created a fl ooded area stretching for 44 square miles across Somerset. The area known as the Somerset Levels is a managed fl ood plain, and fl oods to an extent most winters, usually for a relatively short period of time. This year however, the waters kept rising, affecting a large number of communities from Christmas 2013 to the end of February 2014.
The fl ooding was declared a major incident
on 23 January, with the government becoming involved at Prime Ministerial level and Cabinet Offi ce (COBRA) briefi ngs being held on a daily basis. The village of Muchelney was totally cut off due to impassable roads and, in the village of Moorland, 100 homes were evacuated in the middle of the night. Numerous visits took place from VIPs,
including HRH Prince Charles, then Prime Minister David Cameron and Environment Secretary Owen Paterson. The national and international media descended on the rural villages and farms affected by the fl ooding, and several agencies were subjected to criticism for reacting too slowly and ineffectually to the incident, particularly in the early stages. Muchelney was the fi rst of the villages to become isolated by the fl ooding, and DSFRS provided humanitarian support from the outset, several weeks before the major incident had been declared. A boat ‘taxi’ using a fi re service crew transported residents from the village to dry land, allowing them to maintain, as far as
16 DECEMBER 2017/JANUARY 2018
www.frmjournal.com
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